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ESA’s Earth Explorer CryoSat mission is dedicated to precise monitoring of changes in the thickness of marine ice floating in the polar oceans and variations in the thickness of the vast ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica.

Field measurements in Antarctica’s spectacular blue ice region validate the accuracy of the European Space Agency’s CryoSat mission and show that this part of the ice sheet has increased in height. Making sure that CryoSat is delivering accurate data to work out precisely how the thickness of Earth’s ice is changing is a continuing effort, and one that takes teams of scientists to some of the harshest environments on the planet.

These particular campaigns were carried out on a desolate plateau known as the blue ice region, which lies on the edge of Antarctica. As its name suggests, this unique region features a vast expanse of polished blue ice, devoid of snow.